1. Instituting Organic Collection at Long-Term Care Facilities
Angela Baggetta, Region of Peel
May 30, 2019

2. Region of Peel
Includes the Cities of Brampton and Mississauga and Town of Caledon.
Population of 1.4 million.
Second largest municipality in Ontario, after Toronto.

3. Current Waste System
Collects, processes and disposes of residential waste within the local municipalities.
Also provides service to small businesses, municipal and Regional facilities, Schools and Places of Worship.

4. Background
In 2018, implemented a food and organic waste collection program at the Region’s five Long- Term Care facilities.
Main drivers for the program included:
Term of Council Priority to increase waste diversion at Regional facilities; and
The Region’s long-term waste target of 75% diversion by 2034.
As of 2017, the Region’s overall diversion rate was 50%.
Includes recycling, organics, yard waste and other materials such as batteries and household hazardous waste.
“Walk the talk”
In 2015, Council endorsed a 75% diversion rate.

5. Background cont’d
Region operates five Long-Term Care facilities, with a total of 703 beds.
Two in Brampton, two in Mississauga and one in Caledon.
The Long-Term Care facilities were already receiving Regional garbage and recycling collection services.
Expressed concern with the amount of incontinence waste generated.
Also a large amount of food waste.
Each facility prepares their own food.
As per Long-Term Care regulations, every resident must be offered a minimum of:
three meals daily, and
a snack in the afternoon and evening.
Dietary also prepares weekly “show plates” so residents can customize their meals to meet their needs.

6. Preliminary Work
Toured each facility to gain an understanding of daily operations.
Waste generation and disposal at each facility.
How waste was managed (chutes, staff duties – nursing, dietary, admin).
Consulted with staff to discuss barriers to participation:
Collection frequency
Additional waste containers
Compostable bags
Two of the facilities have chutes, remaining three walk the waste down.
Nursing, dietary and admin staff handle waste differently.
Barriers:
Concern with additional waste containers taking up parking spaces. Staff suggested collection would be require twice per week or more.
The Region’s organic collection program does not accept plastic bags, residents must use compostable bags. Concern with added cost for the facilities.

7. Preliminary Waste Audit
In order to plan for the successful implementation of the program, a waste audit was required to collect information on the amount of organic material available for capture.
A preliminary waste audit was completed in September 2017 at one of the facilities in Brampton.
Garbage was made up of 33% incontinence waste and 28% food waste and other organics such as paper towels and tissues.
Based on this audit data, the estimated annual organic tonnage for all five facilities was about 500 tonnes per year.

8. Collection and Processing
Incontinence waste is not acceptable in the Region’s organic program.
City of Toronto Anaerobic Digestion Facility.
Use regular garbage (plastic) bags for organics, instead of purchasing compostable bags.
Front-end collection contract.
Same service for garbage and recycling.
After the preliminary data was collected, we evaluated different collection and processing options.
The Region’s organic program does not accept incontinence waste, so we utilized an existing Agreement with the City of Toronto to send the organic material to their AD facility for processing. This Agreement was previously established for a multi-res organics pilot, which came to an end as the Long-Term Care program began.
The AD processing capacity also allowed the facilities to use regular plastic garbage bags for disposal, which was a major concern for staff.
We also determined that front-end collection was more suitable, due to the estimated tonnage and to stick to the same level of service that the facilities already receive for garbage and recycling.
Front-end organic collection is not built into our collection contract, so this is an hourly service.
A dedicated route was established for the facilities. These are the only facilities that receive Regional front-end organics collection.

9. Waste Containers
Extrapolated waste audit and garbage tonnage data to determine how many front-end organic bins each facility required.
Where feasible, converted existing garbage bins to organics. Also re-purposed bins purchased for a multi- residential organics pilot.
Nursing staff utilized existing mobile carts.
Dietary staff were provided with kitchen containers.
The locations with chutes re-purposed some of their garbage bins. Since garbage was made-up of 61% organics, we determined that they didn’t receive as many garbage bins once the organic program began.
For internal collection, nursing staff utilized their existing mobile carts. One of the compartments that was previously used for garbage, was re-classified for organics.
Some Dietary staff also re-purposed bins on wheels that they were previously using for garbage.

10. Communications
Based on waste audit results and facility tours, specific communication pieces were developed for staff.
Separate garbage, recycling and organic posters.
Mainly posted in the kitchens and waste sorting rooms.
Posters are all wipeable.

11. Communications cont’d
Incontinence stickers for the nursing carts.
Stickers for the top of the kitchen containers. Removable, can be placed on any container.
Plastic bags permitted

12. Training Staff There was little change made to daily staff operations.
Nursing staff already collected incontinence waste.
Organics containers in the kitchens and serveries.
*Empty liquids
No impact to residents.
Long-Term Care Supervisors took the lead in training, as each facility operates and manages waste differently.
Nursing – a new container was placed in the waste sorting rooms. Dispose of the incontinence waste in this container instead of the garbage.
Dietary – instructed to drain liquids, reduce weight of the bag and prevent the bag from breaking open.
Maintenance staff collect waste from around the facility, they are responsible for final disposal. At facilities where the front-end bins are located outdoors, we provided large magnets for the front-end bins to distinguish the garbage from organics.
No change to resident rooms. The program is only staff facing.

13. Program Roll-Out
In July 2018, the program was rolled out to two of the facilities to identify any issues.
Lessons learned:
Increase number and size of organic front-end bins.
Do not use chutes for food waste; splatter and spillages.
In the kitchens and serveries, drain liquid waste prior to final disposal.
By November 2018, the program was rolled out to all five facilities.
When rolling out the program in July, the two facilities quickly ran out of organic bin capacity.
At one facility, we tried re-purposing a plastic two yard from the multi-res organic pilot, but this bin was too small. We ended up purchasing a new 6yd bin.
The other facility uses a chute system, so we didn’t re-purpose enough of their garbage bins for organics.

14. Performance Metrics
Weekly garbage, recycling and organic tonnage collected through Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.
RFID tags are installed on all waste containers.
Data is not punitive.
Share with Long-Term Care staff on a monthly basis.
Waste audits for all three streams.
Completed both pre- and post-implementation.
Audits are completed by a third party contractor.
Data is not punitive, rather allows us to measure the success or failures of the program.
Waste audit – most recent post-audit completed in February. Next audit is scheduled for the Fall.
Same third party waste auditor used for the curbside and multi-res audits, ensure consistent data.

15. RFID Data Example
Can see when the bin was collected, the bin name and the volume, weight and density of the lift.
Use this data to calculate diversion rates. This data doesn’t allows us to see if the load is contaminated, that’s what audits are also important.

16. Diversion Rates Average as of end of April.
Almost 50% increase on average.

17. Garbage Audit: Post-Implementation (Feb 2019)
Incontinence – 43%
Food Waste & Tissues – 27%
70% organic material still available for capture.
Most recent post-implementation audit completed in February.
The garbage stream still has 70% organic material available for capture. Keep in mind that this material is heavy, so it will offset the percentages.
Although the diversion rates are high, there is still room for improvement.

18. Organic Audit: Post-Implementation (Feb 2019)
Organic stream is clean, not contaminated.
Recyclable materials include plastic bags.

19. Today’s Challenges
Some organic waste is still ending up in the garbage stream.
Incontinence products
New process, frequent staff turnover
Lack of space for additional front-end bins.
Only facilities receiving front end organics collection
Once per week collection
The most recent garbage audit data shows that incontinence waste is still ending up in the garbage.
The program is fairly new in three out of five facilities, so staff may still be placing organic material in the garbage.
There’s a frequent turnover of staff – have to ensure new staff are trained. We are working with the staff on developing a standard operating procedure.
Could also be due to a lack of space for additional front-end bins and the limit on once per week collection.
The facilities were built for garbage and recycling collection, so there’s limited space at the set-out points or indoors for additional organic bins.
Organic collection isn’t included in our multi-res contract, so we are limited with collection frequency.
If we roll-out front-end organic collection to other locations, then we could look into negotiating more frequent collection.

20. Conclusion Ideal locations to implement an organics program.
Lessons learned for future expansion into other Regional facilities.
~30 tonnes per month. Not a significant impact to the Region’s diversion rate.
Anaerobic Digestion is key – incontinence products and use of regular plastic bags for disposal.
Clear communication pieces for staff, understand the importance of the program.
Ideal – generate food waste on site and a lot of incontinence waste.
AD – scheduled by 2024.

21. Thank you! Contact info: Region of Peel Angela Baggetta ext